It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Murder at Holly House by Denzil Meyrick.
About the Author
Denzil Meyrick is from Campbeltown on the Kintyre Peninsula in Argyll. After studying politics, he enjoyed a varied career as a police officer, distillery manager, and director of several companies. He is the No.1 bestselling author of the DCI Daley series and is now an executive producer of a major TV adaptation of his books.
Denzil lives on Loch Lomondside in Scotland with his wife Fiona and cats. You can find @Lochlomonden on X (the artist formerly known as Twitter), on Facebook @DenzilMeyrickAuthor, or on his website: denzilmeyrick.com
A village of secrets - It's December 1952, and a dead stranger has been found lodged up the chimney of Holly House in the remote town of Elderby. Is he a simple thief, or a would-be killer? Either way, he wasn't on anyone's Christmas wish list.
A mystery that can't be solved - Inspector Frank Grasby is ordered to investigate. The victim of some unfortunate misunderstandings, he hopes this case will help clear his name. But as is often the way for Grasby, things most certainly don't go according to plan.
A Christmas to remember - Soon blizzards hit the North York Moors, cutting off the village from help, and the local doctor's husband is found murdered. Grasby begins to realise that everyone in Elderby is hiding something - and if he can't uncover the truth soon, the whole country will pay a dreadful price...
Do things just happen to Inspector Frank Grasby or is it merely a case of a sequence of unfortunate events always seem to unfold whilst he is in the vicinity? His superiors only care about the chaos he leaves in his wake and not the results, hence being sent to the middle of nowhere (North Yorkshire Moors) where he can lay low for a while. Not his choice, but as he says himself it's still preferrable to some other notorious areas he could end up in.
Where Frank walks mysteries and crimes follow quickly behind, although at times I wasn't entirely sure whether he was the source of most of the disruption. That is absolutely the charm of this story by the way, the strength of the main character. His innate ability to believe in his own self is what makes the reader believe the same, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
Perhaps that is why he uncovers bit by bit what others have tried to hide crime after lie after betrayal - we all know the truth always outs, well it sounds a lot more poetic than the actual reality of the sleuthing that takes place, but hey-ho we are here for the Grasby dynamic of crime solving.
On a sidenote, can I just say the epilogue is absolutely spot on in relation to the first paragraph, I often wonder what those who fought so very hard during the Cold War would think about the situation we are in now. I'd also love to see a Grasby post-war crime series, just saying.
Buy Murder at Holly House at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. ~Publisher: Bantam, pub date 9th November 2023 | Hardback | £16.99. Buy at Amazon com.
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